It's good to stay abreast of buzz words, and the buzziest right now could well be VUCA. We'll get to what it means in a moment, but how do we know it's so current? Well, VUCA came up in the first two presentations at the launch of the Centre for Progressive Leadership this week at London Metropolitan University - in itself a buzzy place to be.

So what is it: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. In other words, VUCA is the new normal, according to various leading leadership speakers at the event, including Peter Cheese, the recently-appointed head of the CIPD in the UK. It was fun to meet Peter, whose central message was that leaders will have to adapt and be agile if they are to enjoy future success.

This fits well of course with the solutions-focused and improvisational approach, in which we not only note the existence of such conditions, but positively welcome them as a playground for thriving by using our practical skills of flexibility and collaboration.

Peter noted that there's a shift in leadership thinking from strategy to execution. 'It's about directional stuff and being agile,' he said, and it's difficult to create agile businesses if they have too many management layers. These tend to create experiences of disempowerment and are rarely motivating. Instead, as Dan Pink argues in his book Drive, you thrive in organisations that offer you the opportunity to pursue your purpose, develop mastery and exercise autonomy.

So the improvisational leader is ready to deal with uncertainty and a rapid pace of change. While surveys tell us middle-managers are getting ever more stressed, it's up to leaders to offer a clear and inspiring direction, the prospect of engagement and the tools of resilience. No surprise then that the term VUCA originated with the US military in Afghanistan.

In VUCA we recognise an improvisational landscape - one that calls for solutions-focused thinking and application of well-honed improvisational skills. And what a buzz that can be...